CreedFeed Community - Alter Bridge featured in new Revolver mag

Thanks to Carol (loracnj on abfans) for finding and typing this up!!

Interview taken from the February 2005 issue of Revolver Magazine

FORMER CREED MEMBERS WANNA TAKE US HIGHER.

by Jon Wiederhorn
Photography by Pamela Littky

From the time they formed in 1994, Creed had a structural flaw that eventually led to their demise: Frontman Scott Stapp wanted to be a rock star, and guitarist Mark Tremonti mostly just wanted to rock.
So when Creed broke up last June, Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips formed the heavier, more musically demanding Alter Bridge with original Creed bassist Brian Marshall and former Mayfield Four singer Myles Kennedy. The band's debut album, One Day Remains (Wind-up), is out less neo-grunge and more balls-out rock than Creed. Kennedy belts with urgency and authority, sounding a lot like Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, and Tremonti's playing is colored by crunchy riffing, squalling harmonics, and tasteful, fleet-fingered solos.

"When I grew up, I was really into stuff like Slayer, Metallica, and Mercyful Fate," Tremonti says. "I've always loved uncompromising music, and there was nowhere in Creed for that."

For years, Tremonti and Phillips thought about splitting from Stapp and forming their own group, but the idea became more of a reality after a December 2002 Chicago-area Creed show, in which Stapp was too medicated to sing properly, prompting four fans to file a lawsuit against the band. (Stapp said that Prednisone, an anti-inflammatory drug he was taking, impaired his ability to perform.)

Tremonti started writing for Alter Bridge after the last Creed tour; he auditioned Kennedy by sending him five demos and asking him to add vocals. "I pretty much knew Myles was the perfect fit," Tremonti says. "When his band [Mayfield Four] opened for Creed, I saw right away that he was this tremendous vocal talent. It was just a matter of seeing what he could do with the songs."

Aside from four recording sessions that were canceled because Kennedy had allergies and couldn't sing, One Day Remains' creation was smooth and rapid. We sat down with Alter Bridge before the band's first tour and discussed the conflict between art and business, the erosion of Creed's chemistry, and the bridge between the known and the unknown.

Was Creed getting a little too wussy for you?
MARK TREMONTI It wasn't that. Certain persons just felt our songs had to be a certain length and there couldn't be any guitar solos or extra, cool atmospheres in the bridge. We left a lot of good stuff out of tunes just to make them commercially friendly.

That doesn't sound like fun.
TREMONTI What started out as fun became big business. A lot of people relied on us to churn out big record and ticket sales. It was a lot of pressure. So it was great to be able to start with a fresh slate.

But Alter Bridge are essentially three-quarters of Creed, and you're still on the same label. Wasn't there still pressure to create something marketable?
TREMONTI When we turned in our first single, it had a long guitar solo on it. At first, they edited it out and said, "A lot of radio stations won't play a song with guitar solos." And I said, "Well, then they don't play it." I didn't spend years locked up practicing to have to compromise.

You've said that Creed broke up because of musical and personal differences.
TREMONTI I grew up in Detroit as a rock-and-roll kid, and Scott grew up in the Bible Belt as a jock. I wanted to write music all day long. He wanted to watch ESPN. After a while, we just didn't connect.

Was there a defining moment when you knew Creed couldn't continue?
SCOTT PHILLIPS We got together to work on a fourth Creed record in September 2003, but the passion was not there. So we agreed to call it a day.

What is an Alter Bridge?
TREMONTI It was the name of a bridge on the border of the neighborhood in Detroit where I grew up. We were told that once you crossed the bridge, it was crime ridden, and you could get abducted. So it became this landmark, and beyond it was the unknown. After breaking up such a comfortable career in Creed, Alter Bridge was really like entering unknown territory.

You booted Brian Marshall from Creed in 2000. Why bring him back?
TREMONTI Stapp had the problems with Brian, not us. So as soon as Creed was over, we decided to call him.

Brian, Stapp told MTV that if you had continued in the band, he didn't know if you "would be here right now on this earth."
BRIAN MARHSALL Stapp and I clashed a lot. We never were friends. I was no angel out on the road, but he's definately not the angel that he wants everybody to believe [he is].

Did you two have fistfights?
MARSHALL A few, yeah.

Did you ever kick his ass?
MARSHALL Yup.
TREMONTI Don't say you kicked his ass. When they fought, there was a punch thrown by each one of them. Nobody kicked anyone's ass. They were always too drunk.

Will Creed ever get back together?
TREMONTI We're pretty dead set on retiring with Alter Bridge. We've found a lot of happiness that we haven't felt in a long time, and we're not going to compromise that.

© 2004 Alter Bridge Fans. All Rights Reserved. 3 AM Media